What happens to your credit score when you go over your established credit limits? A reader, Andrew, had this question:
It is my sad duty to report several instances that have come to my attention of credit cards behaving badly.
I started out to write one long post about bankruptcy when I realized there’s just too much information to write one post. So, I’ll be breaking this up over several posts. This post will give you the basics of bankruptcy: what it is, when to file, and the different chapters available. Future posts will delve into specifics with greater detail.
What should you do if past due medical bills are hurting your credit score?
I am a small self employed person. My credit score has dropped due to a couple Dr. bills.
It’s been one of those weekends where I’ve been in a bad mood for several days. Can’t seem to shake it. So, I think I’ll just jump into the round up rather than ramble on, mmmkay.
I was talking to an acquaintance of mind who had an interesting dilemma. She had paid her bill late once on her Mastercard while she was out of town. She then called them up to have the interest and late fees waived. Since she had both excellent credit and an excellent payment record, they agreed to waive both the interest and the late fees. While the late fee and interest charges were credited to her that month, the next month she had more interest charges.
Yesterday, I discussed the use of debit cards and how they compare to credit cards. I noted a key difference, the chargeback. With a debit card, you have to prove outright fraud in order to successfully charge back a purchase. Your card would have to be stolen or a merchant would have to make a completely unauthorized charge. With a credit card, you merely have to contend that the product or service was not delivered, and the presumption of guilt is on the merchant.
If you are about to pay off and close a credit account, make sure you read this article first:
Ok, normally I let topics like this slide because I really don’t want to get into a battle over being PC, or not, as the case may be. That said, this topic really irritated me and I felt it was important to share with you guys…plus, I admit. I’m curious to know what you guys think.
According to today’s Washington Post, Congress is currently considering new rules that will reign in credit card companies. The problem is that companies will enormously jack up interest rates in a predatory matter. Combine that with the new, horribly revised bankruptcy law of 2005, and you have recipe for credit card companies forcing people into bankruptcy. According to the article: “Under current law, people filing for chapters 7 and 13 bankruptcy protection are obligated to pay credit card balances along with secured debts, such as house and auto loans.” What’s even worse, is that credit card debt is actually prioritized above child support payments!